Eintracht Frankfurt fans have told The Press and Journal they still hope to get tickets for Thursday’s Europa Conference League group-closer with Aberdeen at Pittodrie – despite Uefa banning their supporters from the game.
The German Bundesliga club have been sanctioned over fans’ behaviour during their win against HJK Helsinki in Finland last month, and have not been allowed to sell tickets to their fans for the Granite City fixture with the Dons.
There will be up to 200 Eintracht “VIPs” allowed at the match under Fifa rules.
However, rank-and-file Frankfurt fans who had already booked their travel and accommodation for the north-east trip have been left with a dilemma: watch the game in one of Aberdeen city centre’s many bars, or try to snag tickets in Pittodrie’s home sections?
The Press and Journal spoke to a group of German fans on Broad Street in Aberdeen on Wednesday afternoon.
While they were accepting of the European governing body’s punishment of their club over supporters’ actions, they remained optimistic about getting into the Euro game with the Dons.
But they revealed Reds fans they had met so far had been reticent to help them get into the Pittodrie match after warnings to home supporters from Aberdeen chiefs.
Aberdeen released a statement saying: “We have been made aware of Eintracht Frankfurt supporters attempting to buy tickets for the home sections of Pittodrie, with direct approaches being made to Dons supporters via social media channels.
“As with all Aberdeen fixtures, the resale of tickets is not permitted, and we would ask that supporters pay particular attention to approaches from individuals who may not be genuine Aberdeen supporters for Thursday night’s match.
“This is not only to protect the integrity of our home support sections within Pittodrie, but also to prevent the need for sanctions to be made on supporters responsible for any ticket resale for this match.
“Supporters who resell their tickets for this fixture risk being banned from purchasing tickets for future matches at Pittodrie.”
The Frankfurt fans we chatted to also gave score predictions for the final Group G fixture, which is effectively a dead-rubber – with the visitors already confirmed as runners-up in the Conference League section behind Greek side PAOK, while Barry Robson’s Dons cannot progress.
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